It's been over 6 months since my wedding and I've had a lot of conflict in my mind about whether or not to leave a review. I like Cynthia a lot and she is clearly incredibly talented; she is also very nice. However, there were some very serious problems with how she runs her business and, specifically for my wedding, how she chose to handle some issues.

All along leading up to choosing a florist and finalizing ideas related to the flowers, I had a lot of trouble. I LOVE flowers and had some very specific ideas in my head about what I thought would look good. Cynthia was very patient with me and assured me on multiple occasions that she would do what I wanted. Looking back, I had several examples of how that may not work out quite the way I wanted, but I didn't really see them for what they were at the time.

Regardless, I went forward and my flowers were very beautiful. However, unless I had given her a very specific example of exactly what I wanted (as with my bridal bouquet), she disregarded many of the things I said I wanted (or included things I specifically said I did not want). I'm not saying she's a bad florist (quite the contrary), but I am saying that I was led to believe she'd make what I asked her to make and on the whole, that didn't really happen. If anyone needs specific examples of that, you can PM me.

In addition, there are some recommendations I have related to how this business is run. First and foremost, there really isn't a contract with policies, etc. I was a VERY organized bride but leading up to the wedding, life gets incredibly chaotic and it's hard to keep track of things that were said (but not written down) 6+ months before. All of my other vendors gave me contracts with policies laid out so that things like final payment would be taken care of in proper time. For Flower Art, I had to contact them to ask (maybe 10 days before the wedding) when they were needing the final payment (no call, email, or anything from them asking for it anytime before) and the response was yes, they needed it and it was late and I needed to send a money order overnighted to them (no, I could not drop it off). This forced me to go to the bank and post office (neither of which were on my extensive list of errands 10 days out from my wedding). Did I owe the money? Yes. Did I want to be sure they had it prior to the wedding? Of course. Did they need to make me race around and jump through extra hoops of fire when they couldn't be bothered to contact me about it or give me a contract with terms like money order and date final payment is due? I don't think so and it was aggravating.

Finally, and these were really the straws that broke the camel's back for me and made me feel it was necessary I write a review. On the day of my wedding, there were 2 grievous errors. First, they showed up with too few cocktail table arrangements. Sure, this can happen, and their fix for that problem was to take flowers from other arrangements to make the 3 or whatever more, which is a reasonable solution. However, I did NOT hear about this happening from them. They never once contacted me (in 6 months from my wedding) to refund the $60-100 (total) on those arrangements or apologize for the mistake. To me, this is stealing. I paid X amount per cocktail table arrangement and if they showed up with fewer than we agreed upon (and that I paid for), then they have taken my money for doing nothing and that is wrong. There were also bathroom arrangements that we paid for that didn't get there. These items are all probably less than $400 altogether (and I paid over $3000), but I don't care if it's $5, it's still money we paid to get something that they did not provide. What really sends me over the edge is their lack of contact about it; mistakes happen, but when they do, you should admit it and do what you need to do to make it right.

The second major issue I had was that apparently certain flowers we agreed would be used must not have been available. This happens, of course. However, the choices of flowers they used instead were completely inappropriate. For example, they chose to substitute carnations instead of hydrangeas. I don't dislike carnations necessarily, but I did not agree to those in my centerpieces and I REALLY did not agree that they should be used in place of a significantly more expensive flower, like a hydrangea. Again, this was something that should have been discussed and put in writing in advance (and yes, I take partial responsibility for not thinking of doing that), but since it was not, she should have contacted me or my coordinator to approve the choices of substitutes, particularly when we're talking about such a significant value/price difference.

It concerns me that where financial matters were concerned, their business practices were questionable, and this was ultimately why I felt I had to leave a review. For all of the reasons given above, I cannot recommend Flower Art, despite how nice and talented they may be.

All I can say is Thank God for Reene!! Oh my, my dress was several sizes too big! Reene saved the day... she took in over 7 inches... all lace dress, mermaid (so it needs to FIT!) and she just made it look amazing! Plus, we added straps so I would be able to dance without fear and a bustle. She will definitely be direct and say what she thinks, which I really appreciated since she will tell you what she can and cannot do.

If you'd like to make your own mind up, there are pics in my bio (of the wedding, so once it was done... I don't have any pics of it when it was huge, but just take my word for it :)), but suffice it to say, she had to seriously take in the dress, it was all lace and mermaid fit (so those are complications), she added a corset, straps, and a bustle, and had it pressed. There was a lot of work to be done and by the time she was finished, it looked like that dress was made just for me! She does beautiful work and she's a fantastic person. I highly recommend Reene!

April 2010:
I used Just Invite Me for my wedding invitations. Jessi was really nice to work with in a lot of ways (prompt, friendly, flexible, polite, talented) and I did get several compliments on my invitations. However, there were some problems with them and ultimately, I was not personally happy with them. In addition, because of the problems with them, I ended up spending many additional hours correcting problems I found.

When I brought my concerns to her attention, she was very polite and professional in her response, but did indicate that the problems I had with the invitations were likely due to having been a rush order. She stated that generally they require 4-6 weeks to do invitations and because my job was rushed, essentially, some things may have been missed. The problem with this, to me, is that I paid their rush fee, so in my mind, that should mean that they should be perfect or don't take on the job.

So, I would recommend Jessi and Just Invite Me if you have enough time in advance of your wedding to work back and forth with her to decide what you want, see a proof, etc., but I cannot recommend her if you have a rush job, based on my experience.

Post Wedding Update (May 2010):
I cannot say enough how thrilled I am with Tricia and her staff! In the days leading up to the wedding and, of course, on the wedding itself, she was there and completely on top of everything! Even family and guests noticed how great she was! She was there from rehearsal to the final song (and after helping clean up!!) and it was such a stress reliever to me to know that if I needed something she'd take care of it. All of my previous comments stand, so I'll just say that I HIGHLY recommend her and would be more than happy to discuss my experience with her in more detail if anyone's interested (just PM me :)).

April 2010:
I am actually so happy with Tricia so far that I had to leave a review now, even though my wedding isn't for another couple of weeks. Tricia was recommended to me by one of my bridesmaids. I had not budgeted or planned in general to have a coordinator, but this was the best suggestion EVER! I just had no concept going into this wedding how many details and things needed to be done, thought through, etc. and Tricia has just been SUCH an amazing help to me!

Even though Tricia is only my Day-of-Coordinator, she has been helping me coordinate for over a month now and we're still a few weeks out! She's met with me several times, including at my site, to discuss my vision and plans for my wedding, she helped me think of things I had not considered or even realized needed to be considered, and provided tons of support! She also offers, when requested, her suggestions and/or advice based on her experiences with previous weddings, which are never forced or pushed upon me, but generally very useful.

About a month out, she created (based on our discussions) a timeline for the wedding day and days preceding the wedding (beginning with the wedding rehearsal), which has in itself saved me countless hours. She got in touch with all of the vendors so that they will know her and be comfortable with her in advance of the wedding and to coordinate things like their arrival and departure times, etc. which were then included in the timeline (PM me if interested in seeing this).

She has been incredibly responsive, professional, courteous, friendly, and helpful. Her obviously strong grasp of how weddings run and useful insights into ways to be most efficient, etc. have given me a very strong sense of relief and trust. I am so incredibly grateful to have Tricia coordinating my wedding and feel very, very comfortable with her handling things (which is seriously saying something because I'm a bit of a control freak!). I cannot recommend her highly enough.

May 2010 Update:
Andrea and Shayna both came to do hair and makeup for myself, the bridesmaids, several sisters, and mothers. We ALL looked fantastic and had a blast working with both of them! I didn't think it was possible but I looked even BETTER on my wedding than at my preview!! They are SO reasonably priced, came on time (early actually, I think), were able to get through all 9 (yes, 9!!) of us ON SCHEDULE (despite 2 arriving late, which they did not have to because it was those 2 ladies' faults!), AND we all looked amazing... I just don't know that there's any more to say... HIGHLY recommend BOTH Andrea and Shayna!


Original review:
Happy, happy, happy! That's how I feel about Andrea and I've only had a trial! I cannot wait for my wedding! Andrea was a blast to work with, so fun and easy going but also answered all of our questions, addressed all of our concerns, and made us look beautiful (PIB)! I booked her on the spot! I recommend you give her a try; her prices are so reasonable and she's so talented and sweet -- a rare combination! I'd give her 10 stars if I could and I'd pay way more than she's charging me (and I do not say that often!).

Went in to try on bridal dresses. Was there for quite a while it seemed, but not in a good way. Severely disliked the associate helping me. She made several rude/inappropriate comments (one of which referencing how I shouldn't get a smaller sized dress because I wouldn't lose weight before the wedding, which was odd seeing how I neither mentioned wanting a smaller dress nor wanting to lose weight, but had already at that point in fact lost 20 pounds that I didn't say anything about, thankyouverymuch). In addition, the associate was a little more... um... handsy than I'd have preferred. And just in case you are wondering, yes, I have been to other salons and no, I have not had any other associates make me uncomfortable with their physical contact, so it's not that I'm just sensitive or whatever.

Dress selection was minimal and as I tend to be on the somewhat larger side (as in, the minimum size I need is a 10 if we are to have a hope of it fitting), this limited my options further. I did find one dress of interest, but they make it quite difficult to find out the designer/style # so you can't go looking elsewhere to see if there are other dresses by that designer you might like or price compare, etc. which always makes me think they might be hiding something or shady. I realize that may not be the case, but as I say, it makes me less comfortable.

Despite my less than stellar experience looking for a bridal gown here, I went back with my sister since it was closer to her house only to then be disappointed by the BM dress selection, very small dressing room, and incompetent service (my sister called ahead saying we wanted to look at BM dresses -- she was quite clear on this point -- but when we arrived, the associate -- different one than before -- said, "I want to sell you a wedding dress today" to which we explained again that we were only there for BM dresses, she proceeded to become annoyed and made a snarky comment that we didn't need an appointment then, and never helped/spoke with us again).

My bottom line: two strikes and you're out.

I had a pleasant enough experience here the one time I came, but was annoyed to find they weren't open on a Sunday when I was in the area with my sister and wanted to (1) show her one of the dresses I was considering and (2) have her try on BM dresses. To be fair, had I looked online or called ahead, I would have realized they weren't open, but it still annoyed me.

The one time I did come in, I felt their prices were good and the sales staff were attempting to be helpful, although not always succeeding. They also made their personal opinions known more than I would perhaps have preferred. Still, I found several dresses that fit me which is nice because I'm not tiny and several other stores I visited did not carry almost any dresses I could fit (I need a 10, 12, or 14 in bridal dresses in order to have a prayer of them fitting at all). Also, I felt that the salon was a bit hot/stuffy. They did stay open late(r) for me to try on the dresses I had picked, which was quite nice and their store has a fun vibe to it.

All in all, I'd have come back here if they had the dress I wanted and I'd recommend it as a place to check out if you're looking for a salon in the Torrance area.

May 2010 (post-wedding) Update:
All in all, I LOVED the linens from Designer Specialty Linens and I think they made a HUGE impact on my reception (see PIB)! I feel that they were comparably priced to others and since I ordered a lot of linens (and very high end ones), this was a big chunk of my decor budget and I felt it was worth it. As far as I know there were no problems in delivery, setup, etc. and when I arrived to the reception, it was all beautiful, so I have no complaints there. They were also very easygoing to work with, which I feel can be a pro and a con. Overall, I recommend them, but I would recommend to any brides using their services to book with them early (as in before you get crazy and frantic) because their follow-through is sometimes lacking. To their credit, they don't get all uptight if you haven't paid in full by a set # of days in advance, etc. so they are easygoing in both directions (as opposed to some vendors who don't get back to you but then get upset if you're not prompt with every little thing) but I was a bit frustrated to feel like I had to track them down at times. Still, everyone was very nice and their linens are beautiful. I would definitely recommend this vendor.


Original Review:
So far, so good! Met with David for over an hour looking at different linens options, trying them out, and playing with ideas for colors (of napkins, flowers/centerpieces, chargers, etc.). Also met briefly with Dahlia. Both were very nice, no pressure, but they did offer opinions and suggestions. When we decided the best option for napkins was white, David said that I could probably have the reception site provide these to save some money -- love that!

They allowed me to take a full tablecloth in the linen I thought I wanted to the reception site to try it out to be sure! I didn't leave a deposit or anything, just called ahead to let them know I needed it, picked it up, and then brought it back when I was done. Very easy and really gave me peace of mind that what I liked in their showroom was also great for my reception site.

Really nice people with some very nice linens options. They don't have as many choices as some places, but I was still able to find something unique and special that fit my wedding vision.

Update June 2010 (post wedding):
Now that it's all said and done, we had a great experience with Casey and Andrea! They were on time for the wedding, stayed the full time we had agreed, made sure to get all of the shots we had specifically discussed/requested, and (most importantly) our pictures came out SO BEAUTIFULLY!! They were not intrusive or pushy about getting pictures, but also did let us know if there was a shot they needed or when we needed to move on, etc. I also want to mention that they were very respectful of our comfort (i.e. not being in the room if the girls were changing, etc.). We haven't ordered an album yet, so I can't comment on that part, but for all of the rest, we are very happy we hired Figlewicz Photography for our wedding!

Update April 2010:
Had our engagement pictures with Casey and Andrea and my fiance and I couldn't be happier! They were really easy-going and fun to work with. They made both of us feel really comfortable. And the pictures look fantastic (Some PIB)! And all the other stuff from our first review (great communication, etc.) has remained true throughout. We definitely recommend them!

Original Review:
We just hired Casey and his wife, Andrea, for our wedding next year. So far, we've been really happy with them: they spent quite a while meeting with both my fiance and myself; we love their pictures; they have been very responsive to emails and phone calls; and they were really positive, helpful, and flexible while negotiating the price and contract. We'll update as we work with them more, but so far, we've had a wonderful experience working with them :)

My friend had a wedding here several years ago. Her wedding was gorgeous -- the site is magnificent! There's a lake with a gazebo and hotel rooms and ballrooms that overlook it, there's gardens... it really is beautiful. That said, they won't negotiate (pretty much anything) and their Coordinator was not particularly on top of things or helpful (at that time, this was 2006, so I don't know if it's the same person anymore). All in all though, the food was good, the site was beautiful, there's tons of parking, and it's a hotel as well so guests can stay there. Also, we found it was close enough to other amenities that we were able to go to a salon for hair/makeup (5 minutes away, you could probably walk if you really wanted) rather than paying more for them to come to us, etc. It was also nice since she was able to do the ceremony and reception at the same site. There are indoor and outdoor options for the ceremony, but I don't know if you can have an outdoor reception. The only downsides are: several weddings on the same day, so things can be hectic or you could even see another wedding, the not-so-great coordinator, and they were very firm on prices, etc. (even when I called recently this was the case). Other than that though, amazing site and her pictures turned out SO great!